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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

PROF. CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 

MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


D 


ISCOVERIES 
IN   EVERY-DAY 
•     EUROPE    •    •    • 

VAGRANT     NOTES      OF 
A      RAPID      JOURNEY 

BY 

DON    C.    SEITZ 

ILLUSTRATED  BY  MAURICE  KETTEN 


NEW     YORK     AND      LONDON 

HARPER     &     BROTHERS 

PUBLISHERS      «       MCMVII 


Copyright,  1907,  by  Harper  &  Brothers. 

All  rights  reserved. 
Published  September,  1907. 


^63 


TO 

W.  H.  AND  H.  F.  G. 


DISCOVERIES 
IN    EVERY-DAY    EUROPE 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/discoveriesineveOOseitrich 


DISCOVERIES 
IN    EVERY-DAY    EUROPE 


JOST  people  think  that 
the   Rock   of    Gibraltar, 

>as  one  of  the  Pillars 
of  Hercules,  guards  the 

i  straits  which  bear  its 
name.  It  does  not,  but  lies  well  with- 
in, invisible  from  the  Atlantic,  across 
the  bay  from  the  little  Spanish  town 
of  Algeciras.  Cape  Spartel,  on  the 
African  side  of  the  straits,  is  a  true 
pillar.  When  Hercules  used  his  club 
he  left  a  flat  place  opposite  Spartel,  on 


ivl310128 


the  Spanish  coast,  with  just  enough 
room  to  accommodate  Tarifa,  the  lit- 
tle town  where  the  McKinley  bill  came 
from.  Tangier  is  on  the  Atlantic,  and 
Ceuta,  the  Spanish  prison  town,  is  on 
the  Mediterranean  shore. 

Gibraltar  is  nothing  but  picturesque. 
The  six  thousand  British  soldiers  are 
runty-looking  little  things  beside  the 
Moors  who  drop  over  from  Tangier. 
Tall,  magnificent  beings  in  turban  and 
white  burnous,  they  stand  about  like 
statues,  staring  at  the  Giaours,  un- 
changed and  unchangeable  in  a  thou- 
sand years.  When  night  comes  on 
they  crouch  low  in  the  sterns  of  their 
feluccas,  and,  hoisting  the  lateen-sails, 
slip  out  across  the  sea  like  great  birds 
flitting  amid  the  foam. 

Early  strawberries  come  to  Gibraltar 
from  Spain,  packed  in  attractive  bas- 
kets and  rosy  as  the  dawn.  Travellers 
who  have  been  on  sea  for  ten  days  buy 

2 


them  eagerly,  only  to  find  a  single 
layer  of  berries  closely  fitted  over  a 
basket  of  cabbage  leaves. 

The  man  who  plays  a  bass-drum  in^^ 
the  British  drum  corps  is  always  very  \^^ 
tall  and  long  of  arm.     He  beats  the-\ 
drum  on  alternate  sides,  cross-armed, 
so  continuously  as  never  to  lose  the 
rhythm.     He  wears  a  snow -leopard 
skin  over  his  shoulders  and  is  an  im- 
posing personage. 

Cape  carts  rule  in  Gibraltar.  Six 
people  ride  in  one  behind  a  little  Moor- 
ish horse,  and  go  fast  at  that  uphill. 


The  dining-cars  that  run  north  from 
Basle  into  Germany  use  leaden-colored 
china.  Each  guest  gets  a  stack  of 
plates,  piled  one  on  top  of  the  other, 
in  number  equal  to  the  total  of  the 
courses.  Six  plates  indicate  six  courses. 
3 


So  the  dinner  comes  and  goes  in  layers. 
The  same  knife  and  fork  do  the  work 
for  all. 

The  German  parcels-post  carries  its 
burdens  in  freight -cars  and  does  a 
whopping  business.  At  every  good- 
sized  German  station  a  string  of  these 
cars  can  be  seen  discharging  parcels  of 
all  sorts  and  sizes.  Everything  goes, 
and  goes  for  a  few  pfennigs. 

Only  dukes  or  drummers  ride  first 
class  in  the  German  trains.  The  first- 
class  carriages  are  lined  with  red 
plush,  and,  as  both  dukes  and  drum- 
mers are  scarce,  usually  run  empty. 
The  second-class  cars  are  roomy  and 
sociable. 

The  policemen  grow  less  majestic 
as  you  journey  north.  The  finest  be- 
ing in  the  world  is  a  Naples  police- 
man. His  hat  and  clothes  would  stop 
all  traffic  in  New  York.  The  Roman 
policeman  is  of  the  same  breed  but 
4 


W-> 


less  stylish.  In  Milan  he  is  rather 
common -looking.  In  Lucerne  he  be- 
comes inferior,  and  in  Germany  com- 
monplace, despite  his  nickel  -  plated 
helmet  with  a  spike  on  it.  The  Paris 
policeman  in  his  cap  and  dinky  little 
cloak  is  a  sad  affair,  while  the  London 
bobby  is  the  least  of  all  in  looks  or 
uniform. 

Paris  does  not  put  fig  leaves  on 
its  statuary,  but  it  makes  the  Seine 
barges  fold  up  their  masts  at  night 
so  as  not  to  mar  the  scenery. 


The  popular  wine  in  Rome  is  called 
Frascati.  It  is  thin,  straw-colored  stuff 
with  a  powerful  smell,  that  comes,  per- 
haps, from  the  feet  of  the  peasants 
who  tread  out  the  grapes.  So  much 
of  it  is  sold  that  you  can  detect  the 
wine-shops  with  your  nose. 
5 


W5^ 


The  German  regard  for  the  pig  is 
emphasized  in  many  ways.  The  pork- 
shops  are  fitted  up  as  gorgeously  as 
saloons  are  in  New  York.  Plate-glass 
windows,  marble  coimters  and  shelv- 
ing, hard-wood  fittings  with  much  pol- 
ished brass  prevail. 

The  pig  himself  is  dealt  with  deco- 
ratively.  The  plump  and  tender  hams 
are  so  trimmed  that  the  layers  of  fat 
and  lean  show  to  the  best  advantage. 
Loins  and  chops  are  grouped  in  por- 
cine bouquets,  while  the  ornamental 
effects  of  the  sausages  are  never  lost. 

The  robber  castles  on  the  Rhine 
cannot  compare  with  the  Rockefeller 
place  at  Tarry  town.  Rhine  scenery 
is  rather  dreary,  anyway,  and  most  of 
the  Rhine  towns  look  like  Piermont- 
on-the-Hudson,  where  the  sun  goes 
down  every  afternoon  at  12.30.  The 
hill -sides  seemed  covered  with  shale, 
out  of  which  grow  the  grape-vines. 
6 


The  Rhine  is  not  a  very  big  river,  but  |   ) 
it  is  a  busy  one.     If  the  water  ever 
ran  out,  the  hills  produce  almost  wine 
enough  to  fill  it  once  a  year. 

The  serpentine  drive  in  Florence  is 
called  the  Viale  Machiavelli,  possibly 
because  it  is  so  crooked. 

Beer  mugs  in  Germany  have  a  sort 
of  PlimsoU  mark  cut  in  the  side,  so 
you  can  tell  when  one  is  legally  loaded. 
When  you  get  your  half -litre  for  two 
cents  the  foam  must  be  all  above  the 
government  line.  Here's  where  the 
Kaiser  is  ahead  of  T.  R. 


Ice  is  regarded  with  superstitious 
reverence  in  Italy,  France,  and  Eng- 
land. Common  waiters  are  not  allowed 
to  touch  the  precious  product.  Instead, 
the  head  waiter  hands  it  out  in  infini- 
tesimal fragments  with  a  pair  of  sugar- 
7 


tongs.  Recently  the  London  newspa- 
pers have  been  clamoring  for  the  advent 
of  some  enterprising  American  with  an 
ice  plant.  Most  of  the  London  editors 
are  Americans  or  have  been  in  iVmerica, 
and  their  palates  yearn  for  long,  cold 
things  with  straws  in  them  in  prefer- 
ence to  the  yeasty  British  beer. 

Of  the  eleven  Egyptian  obelisks  in 
Rome  ten  are  topped  with  ornate 
bronze  crosses,  which  give  them  a  bi- 
zarre effect  hardly  thought  of  by  Pha- 
raoh's designers. 

Two  cents  is  the  standard  price  for 
an  ordinary  trolley  fare  in  Italy, 
France,  and  Germany,  and  four  cents 
is  the  London  standard.  The  dis- 
tances on  the  Continent  are  not  so 
great,  but  the  average  ride  is  no  shorter 
than  that  taken  on  the  New  York 
trolleys.  The  cars  are  not  so  large, 
but  they  are  clean,  and  people  are  not 
allowed  to  stand  up  in  the  aisles  or 
8 


between  seats.  Each  car  has  a  huge 
vestibule  for  any  overflow  of  passen- 
gers, and  the  standee  must  stand  there 
or  get  off  the  car.  Milan  has  the  best 
line,  and  it  is  operated  by  the  Societa 
EUettrica  Edison,  which  sounds  like 
home  with  a  few  trimmings. 

The  donkey  is  man's  best  friend  in 
Italy.  He  is  a  little  cuss,  but  carries 
loads  incomprehensibly  too  big  for 
him.  Out  of  compliment  the  comic 
paper  of  Rome,  with  its  sixty  thousand 
circulation,  calls  itself  UAsino:  E  il 
Populo,  Utile,  Paziente  e  Bastonato; 
meaning:  ''The  Ass:  He's  the  People, 
Useful,  Patient,  and  Beaten"  (with  a 
stick). 


The  English  parliamentary  methods 
have  merit.     The  hall  is  a  parallelo- 
gram, in  the  centre  of  which  towards 
the  inner  end  is  a  table,  on  the  left  of 
9 


''  ^^t^r  '^  which  sit  the  Liberal  Cabinet  members, 
^^^^  ^(^^^  and  on  the  right  the  Conservative  gen- 
/>  *^  tlemen  who  would  be  in  their  places  if 
^^  they  were  not  out.  Thus  yoimg  Win- 
ston Churchill — who  looks  like  a  cross 
between  William  Travers  Jerome  and 
Elbert  Hubbard  with  his  hair  cut — 
Professor  James  Bryce,  Augustine  Bir- 
rell,  John  Morley,  and  Premier  Camp- 
bell-Bannerman  sit  opposite  Arthur 
James  Balfour,  Joseph  Chamberlain, 
et  al.,  and  have  it  out.  Bannerman 
resembles  Charley  Knapp,  of  the  St. 
Louis  Republic.  Occasionally  a  mem- 
ber rises  and  says  a  few  things,  but 
the  members  mostly  yell  **  Here!  here!" 
and  vote. 

The  Speaker  wears  a  wig  and  has 
no  power  beyond  preserving  order  and 
stating  motions.  He  also  has  a  per- 
manent job,  and  becomes  a  peer  when 
he  feels  like  retiring.  William  Court 
Gully,  the  last  one  to  quit,  looked 
10 


lonely  in  his  seat  among  the  scanty 
Liberals  in  the  House  of  Lords.  The 
day  this  observer  was  present  Nicholas 
Longworth  gazed  with  deep  interest 
from  the  gallery  while  Mr.  Balfour 
characterized  as  *' brutal' '  Mr.  Banner- 
man's  announcement  that  he  would 
choke  off  the  debate  on  the  Educa- 
tional bill  in  nineteen  days  on  the 
ground  that  when  he  was  Premier  he 
never  stopped  the  talk  inside  of  thirty. 
The  Conservative  newspapers  called 
Mr.  Bannerman  names  the  next  day 
and  said  his  manner  was  harsh.  It 
seemed  mild  and  deprecatory.  They 
never  saw  Tom  Reed  make  a  ruling. 

But  this  produces  a  government  out 
in  the  open  where  every  hand  must  be 
shown.  It  is  better  than  a  closet  con- 
ference between  Sereno  E.  Payne,  Gen. 
Grosvenor,  Joe  Cannon,  and  a  bottle  of 
whiskey  by  which  the  purposes  of  the  ^^<^^ 


people  can  be  side-tracked  or  subdued,  fe *"  S 


^^< 


Admission  to  the  galleries  of  Parlia- 
ment must  be  through  the  courtesy  of 
a  member.  Americans  find  the  Irish 
members  particularly  amiable,  espe- 
cially Mr.  Abraham,  who  comes  from 
Limerick  and  has  a  beautiful  brogue. 

The  Earl  of  Chesterfield  is  the  long- 
est and  thinnest  British  peer.  He  in- 
herits the  family  manners. 


M^ 


Cider  is  spelled  with  a  "y'' — thusly, 
"cyder'' — in  Britain. 

Taking  a  bath  is  ceasing  to  be  an 
important  function  in  Italy.  The  mod- 
ern Roman  hotels  are  as  much  up- 
to-date  as  those  of  New  York.  The 
water  in  the  bath-tubs  is  a  beautiful 
blue. 

Soap-making  is  an  important  in- 
dustry in  Genoa,  where  much  machin- 
ery is  employed  in  its  manufacture. 


Foreigners    get    the    impression    that 
there  is  no  soap  in  Italy. 

Silk  is  the  great  industry  of  north- 
ern Italy,  and  the  plains  of  the  quadri- 
lateral are  dark  with  mulberry -trees. 
The  mulberry  -  tree  is  the  hardest- 
worked  piece  of  timber  in  the  world. 
First  its  leaves  are  skinned  off  for  the 
worms  to  feed  on;  then  the  little 
branches  are  clipped  for  the  worms 
to  nest  in;  then  the  large  limbs  are 
cropped  for  charcoal,  and  the  trunk 
has  not  only  to  produce  a  new  crop  of 
leaves  and  limbs  for  next  year,  but 
must  act  as  trellis  for  a  grape-vine. 

Eggs  can  be  had  for  breakfast  in 
Italy  by  making  arrangements  for 
their  production  the  night  before,  and 
chicken  is  on  every  table  d'hdte.  Yet 
in  six  hundred  miles  of  Italy  this  pil- 
grim never  saw  a  hen.  Experience  has 
shown,  however,  that  hens  and  house- 
flies  are  the  same  the  w^orld  over. 
13 


The  milkman  is  mistrusted  in  Naples, 
and  must  bring  his  flocks  and  herds 
with  him  when  he  calls.  So  cows  are 
common  in  the  streets,  each  with  a 
calf,  while  long-haired  goats  swarm 
everywhere.  When  not  being  milked 
they  loaf  peacefully  on  the  slopes  of 
the  terraced  streets,  eating  anything 
that  can  be  detached  from  the  walls 
or  pavements. 


The  Mediterranean  sunset  is  one  of 
the  glories  of  the  world.  The  sea  is  a 
velvet  blue.  When  evening  comes  the 
clouds  forsake  the  sky  and  the  sun 
takes  on  the  color  of  molten  gold,  gild- 
ing the  purple  waters  as  the  great  glow- 
ing disk  approaches  the  level  line  of 
the  horizon ;  wide  waves  of  crimson  in- 
tervene across  the  azure  heavens,  and 
sea  and  sky  leap  together  in  a  vivid 
14 


embrace  of  color.  The  sun  vanishes, 
the  sea  turns  from  gold  to  silver,  and 
the  sky  grows  crystal  clear.  Then 
night  falls  slowly  down. 

Florence  supports  a  good  vaudeville 
theatre,  half  enclosed  and  half  under 
canvas.  You  can  buy  drinks  and 
smoke.  It  seemed  a  little  odd  to  see 
two  New  York  knockabout  artists 
doing  a  hobo  turn  in  Tuscany.  They 
won  little  applause,  but  excited  some 
astonishment  by  their  make-up.  There 
are  no  tramps  in  Italy,  and  the  point 
was  lost. 

Taddeo  Gaddi  set  the  fashion  for 
bridges  over  the  Arno.  The  Arno  is  a 
nice  little  river,  with  some  pale-green 
water  in  it  and  lovely  stone  terraces 
along  the  shores.  Florentine  washer- 
women tidy  up  their  clothes  in  the 
stream.  The  sewage  goes  somewhere 
else.  Europeans  know  how  to  treat 
rivers  decently.  They  all  have  to 
IS 


work,  but  they  are  kept  sweet  and 
clean.  A  European  river  forty  feet 
wide  handles  as  much  freight  as  an 
ordinary  American  railroad,  while  the 
Rhine  carries  more  business  to  a  block 
than  half  the  Hudson  River.  Splendid 
tug-boats,  fine  barges,  and  handsome 
steamers  do  the  work,  with  anchored 
chain-boats  to  pull  the  big  loads  up 
the  rapids. 

Italian  cigars  look  like  Pittsburg 
stogies,  with  bits  of  straw  sticking  out 
of  them. 


Somehow  Vesuvius  suggests  a  huge 
and  vicious  boil  on  the  neck  of  Naples. 
The  last  eruption  covered  the  whole 
country  with  ashes  and  tinted  it  green- 
ish gray.  The  buried  villages  are  cov- 
ered with  lava,  which  looks  like  slag 
and  smells  like  the  devil. 

Here  and  there  crystal  chunks  of 
i6 


CJ 


3 


sulphur  show  in  the  mud-like  mass,  v'^';^; 
Economical  Italian  women  were  cook- 
ing beans  in  an  oven  improvised  amid 
the  smoking  debris  from  the  moun- 
tain. Those  who  were  not  cooking 
begged. 

Switzerland  is  an  ideal  republic  and 
a  republic  with  ideals.  The  citizen 
of  Switzerland  who  becomes  natural- 
ized in  another  republic — say,  France 
or  the  United  States — does  not  lose  his 
citizenship,  but  can  return  and  ex- 
ercise its  privileges  at  any  time.  The 
theory  is  that  republicans  are  brothers, 
and  so  long  as  they  subscribe  to  the 
same  ideas  of  political  liberty  they  re- 
main in  an  unchanged  relationship. 

Museums  in  Italy  are  closed  on 
holidays,  but  open  on  Sunday,  unless 
the  Sunday  happens  to  hold  a  holiday. 

The  Aquarium  at  Naples  has  a  cage 
full  of  devil-fish  of  the  Standard  Oil 
variety,   huge,  ugly,  and   fascinating. 
17 


Beside  these  are  gardens  of  sea-growths 
more  brilliant  and  delicate  in  color  than 
any  flower-bed  that  ever  bloomed,  and 
jelly  -  fish  so  fragile  and  transparent 
that  they  must  be  kept  in  glass  cylin- 
ders away  from  the  water-flow  that 
refreshes  the  compartments. 

Birds  are  scarce  in  southern  Italy 
because  they  are  hunted  pitilessly. 
Along  the  highways  hunters  are  always 
lurking  to  kill  off  the  few  reckless 
swallows  who  now  and  then  flit  from 
the  crags  above  the  sea. 


The  Comedie  Frangais  enjoys  one 
htmdred  and  twenty-five  years  of  pleas- 
ant history.  The  building  is  plain  and 
without  modern  improvements,  but  it 
houses  real  actors.  There  is  no  music, 
and  the  considerable  time  between  the 
f  acts  is  spent  in  visiting  about  in  the 


boxes  or  in  the  foyer,  while  the  privi- 
leged ones  can  go  behind  the  scenes, 
where  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  the 
cast  hold  court  graciously.  The  green- 
room is  an  art  gallery  and  the  dressing- 
rooms  are  parlors.  Here  you  see  the 
best  that  French  painting  and  French 
sculpture  can  do  to  preserve  the 
memory  of  Racine,  Moliere,  Corneille, 
Dumas,  Hugo,  and  their  interpreters, 
to  say  nothing  of  many  names  not 
often  repeated  abroad.  Houdin's 
splendid  statue  in  marble  of  Voltaire 
stands  at  the  head  of  the  foyer,  and  is 
probably  the  only  work  in  marble  that 
is  poised  on  wheels.  After  the  fire 
some  years  ago  the  solid  pedestal  was 
replaced  by  a  model  shell  on  casters, 
so  that  it  can  be  speedily  rolled  out  in 
an  emergency. 

The    French    are    supposed    to    be 

fathers  of  the  modern  dramatic  climax, 

but  in  a  recent  success  in  the  Comedie, 

19 


"Paraitre/'  in  which  M.  Grand  and 
Mile.  Cerny  made  their  debut  in  lead- 
ing parts,  M.  Donnay,  the  author,  does 
a  curious  thing.  The  play  is  very 
*  *  modern . ' '  The  designing  mother  suc- 
ceeds in  wedding  her  sweet  and  simple 
daughter  to  a  young  millionaire  in  the 
sugar  line.  He  announces  that  it  is 
but  an  experiment.  "It  is  marriage, 
not  liaison,  and  so  is  easily  adjusted  if 
all  does  not  go  well."  All  does  not  go 
well.  There  is  a  sister-in-law  who 
needs  money  (Mile.  Cerny),  and  she 
soon  entangles  the  young  husband 
(M.  Grand).  The  gentle  wife  knows. 
She  tells  her  brother.  She  begs  him  to 
forgive.  He  says  nothing.  The  care- 
less husband  comes  from  the  garden, 
his  arms  laden  with  flowers,  humming 
a  gay  little  air.  He  enters  from  the 
parterre,  the  wronged  husband  steps 
forward  and  empties  his  pistol.  The 
husband  falls  dead  with  his  face  buried 


in  the  blossoms.  This  would  seem  to 
be  a  good  place  to  stop,  but  the  cur- 
tain rises  and  the  queer  thing  occurs. 
All  the  relatives,  the  prefect,  and  the 
murderer  sit  around  for  ten  minutes 
cheerfully  discussing  the  consequences 
and  calling  the  man's  attention  to  the 
misery,  desolation,  and  scandal  he  has  /^^  /r^f^ 
created  by  his  reckless  conduct.  How  C^  -^'ftH 
much  better  he  might  have  behaved 
and  harmed  no  one!  Now  he  has 
done  it! 

The  big  hotels  in  Paris  now  serve  a 
"chantant''  with  the  coffee  and  cigars. 
It  keeps  the  Americans  off  the  Bou- 
levard. 


-^ 


The  steamboats  on  the  Grand  Canal 
at  Venice  have  not  exterminated  the 
gondolas,  and  never  will.  They  are 
mighty  convenient,  though,  and  very 
swift.     The  ease  with  which  they  make 

21 


landings  excites  wonderment.  All  the 
landing-places  are  at  anchored  floats, 
and  these  are  found  every  quarter  mile. 
The  boats  are  much  like  the  swift  lit- 
tle steamers  on  the  Seine,  where  for  two 
cents  one  can  go  almost  anywhere,  and 
for  four  take  a  fine  excursion.  The 
gondola  is  a  black  snaky  craft.  The 
gondoliers  can  sing,  but  there  is  no 
pleasure  in  listening  to  them.  It  costs 
eighteen  cents  an  hour  to  be  bumped 
about  the  canals.  Moonlight  on  the 
Grand  Canal  is  all  that  any  poet  ever 
said  it  was,  and  Venice  is  all  that  any 
artist  ever  painted. 

Verona  had  the  noblest  site  of  any 
Italian  city  not  on  the  sea.  It  lies  up 
in  a  far  corner  of  Italy,  backed  by 
the  Austrian  dolomites,  hemmed  in  by 
great  fortifications,  beyond  which  the 
plains  stretch  away  to  Solferino  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  lovely  Lake  Garda 
with   its   blue   waters   and   mountain 


background  on  the  other.     Two  gen- 
tlemen of  Verona  who  boarded  the 
train  and  got  into  the  first-class  com- 
partment by  mistake  were   not   pre- 
possessing. 

There  are  three  htmdred  and  seventy 
five  churches  in  Rome  built  of  stone 
from  the  heathen  ruins.  Nobody  at- 
tends them. 

In  Paris  the  ladies  lift  up  their  skirts 
at  crossings  with  no  consideration  oth- 
er than  to  insure  keeping  them  off  the 
pavement. 

Paris  now  has  a  Dumas  Square.  It 
is  but  a  few  weeks  old.  Here  the  Gen- 
eral stands  in  bronze,  looking  at  the 
creator  of  the  Musketeers  as  he  rests 
guarded  by  the  immortal  Three,  while 
in  magnificent  marble  the  grandson  of 
the  Camelias  faces  both.  It  should  be- 
come a  new  shrine  for  the  traveller. 


Pope  Pius  X.  is  cutting  down  the 
splendors  that  once  surrounded  the 
Vatican.  The  Swiss  Guards  have 
dwindled  to  twenty-five,  but  these  in 
their  parti  -  colored  uniforms,  with 
musket  and  halberd,  lounge  about  the 
entrance  to  the  grand  staircase  much 
as  the  musketeers  loafed  at  the  stair- 
way in  the  palace  of  M.  de  Treville. 
The  Italian  policemen  duplicate  all 
their  posts,  however,  and  they  remain 
nothing  but  the  fragment  of  a  show. 

People  who  are  received  by  the  Pope 
must  appear  in  full  evening  dress,  al- 
though the  hour  is  usually  at  eleven 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  outer 
office  looks  like  that  of  a  good  New 
York  lawyer.  A  pleasant  yotmg  secre- 
tary in  secular  garb  meets  the  visitors. 
All  is  very  simple,  not  in  the  least  awe- 
inspiring.  Visitors  must  kneel  and 
kiss  the  Pope's  hand.  His  toe  is  no 
longer  in  use. 

^^'     24 


Some  of  the  shrines  in  the  Roman 
chtirches  have  statues  where  the  toe  is 
still  kissed.  In  many  cases  stone  feet 
have  worn  out  and  have  been  replaced 
with  metal. 

The  students  at  the  several  colleges 
in  Rome  wear  ecclesiastical  garb,  but 
each  is  different  in  cut  and  color.  The 
Germans  are  the  most  conspicuous  in 
long,  single-breasted,  close  -  buttoned 
coats  of  brilliant  scarlet. 

S^ 

There  are  two  bridges  of  boats  on  the 
Rhine,  one  at  Coblentz  and  the  other 
at  Cologne.  The  Coblentz  bridge  is  of 
wooden  craft,  pointed  and  picturesque, 
while  that  at  Cologne  is  made  of  iron 
floats  stable  and  scientifically  con- 
structed. The  draw  is  supplied  with 
steam  power,  and  floats  itself  in  and 
out  to  let  the  traffic  by. 

25 


4 


The  mountain  climber  is  a  German 
y  product.     In  short  jacket,  with  green 
^^    Tyrolean  hat  bearing  a  rakish  feather, 
alpen-stock  and  heavy  hobnailed  shoes, 
he  is  found  everywhere  in  the  moun- 
tain coimtry.     The  climbers  hunt  the 
strenuous  life.     Many  student  parties 
ramble  through  the  Alps  studying  ge- 
ology at  first  hand  and  mapping  the 
**>strata  with   true    German    thorough- 
ness. 

The  Swiss  cattle  have  a  deer-like 
lightness  and  grace  and  the  color  of 
the  fawn.  They  are  precious  posses- 
sions. When  the  calves  travel  on  the 
steamers  of  Como  and  Lugano  they 
are  curled  up  in  big,  round,  flat-bot- 
tomed baskets,  where  American  wom- 
en travellers  pet  them  and  try  to  feed 
them  caramels. 

Military  service  in  Switzerland  is 
limited  to  seven  weeks  in  the  year  dur- 
ing the  period  of  active  enrolment,  but 


every  man  in  the  nation,  young  or  old, 
is  supplied  with  the  best  rifle  money 
can  buy  at  the  expense  of  the  state. 
He  must  belong  to  a  shooting  club, 
and  in  a  yearly  competition  must  fire 
fifty  roimds.  If  his  percentage  of  hits 
is  not  up  to  the  required  standard,  he 
must  serve  seven  weeks  with  the  army. 
The  Switzers  know  how  to  shoot. 
The  nation  is  the  army.  Whoever 
tackles  Helvetia  will  get  hurt.  The 
passes  are  guarded  by  the  best  type  of 
modern  forts  and  guns,  and  the  railway 
tunnels  are  mined  for  instant  obstruc- 
tion. 

When  the  King  rides  in  Rome  he  sal- 
lies out  just  before  dusk.  A  squadron 
of  cuirassiers  precedes  his  open  carriage, 
in  which  he  often  sits  alone.  On  either 
side,  close  to  the  hubs,  wheels  a  bi- 
cycle policeman.  Two  or  three  car- 
27 


riage-loads  of  high  officials  follow.  The 
whole  entourage  moves  at  a  very  fast 
trot.  The  glittering  breastplates  and 
long,  flowing  plumes  of  the  horsemen 
show  in  odd  contrast  with  the  make-up 
of  the  bicycle  cops,  which  is  much  like 
that  of  our  own. 

The  book-stalls  of  Paris  are  on  the 
coping  of  the  Seine  embankment,  be- 
ginning at  the  Quai  d'Orsay  and  con- 
tinuing to  the  He  de  la  Cite,  where  the 
antiques  and  coins  fall  in  line.  Here 
is  the  place  for  odd  volumes.  Books 
in  vellura  covers  dating  back  to  Guten- 
berg's time  abound,  etchings  of  the 
Revolution  and  an  olla  podrida  of 
the  amazing  literature  of  France.  It 
seemed  odd  to  find  a  volume  of  Dr. 
Theodore  L.  Cuyler's  essays  in  the 
bunch. 

There  are  no  bell-punches  or  indi- 
cators in  European  street-cars.  In- 
stead the  conductor  gives  each  pas- 


senger  a  little  paper  receipt  for  his 
fare.  He  gets  so  many  receipts  block- 
ed into  a  pad  each  day,  and  must  turn 
in  the  imused  balance  and  account  for 
the  rest  with  cash.  The  receipts  are 
not  taken  up. 

Rhine  wine  is  really  made  along  the 
Rhine,  and  champagne  at  Rheims  and 
Epernay. 

Big  mastiffs  help  haul  the  street 
carts  in  Cologne.  The  man  pulls  be- 
tween the  shafts  and  the  dog  tugs  at 
an  auxiliary  whiffle-tree.  When  the 
cart  is  not  moving  the  dog  watches  the 
stock  in  trade. 

When  Italian  drivers  wish  to  start 
their  horses  they  ejaculate  ''Ahf  ex- 
plosively. When  they  wish  to  stop 
they  cry  **E-e-e!"  soothingly.  When 
they  warn  foot  passengers  in  the  nar- 
row ways  they  repeat,  "A-y-a-a-a!" 
endlessly. 

Ruts  are  not  permitted  on  Italian 


— <^777k__ 


roads.     Piles  of  crushed  limestone  are 
always  at  hand  for  mending. 

<^ 

The  books  in  the  hotel  and  boarding- 
house  libraries  of  Florence  and  Venice 
are  the  books  of  the  first  sixty  years 
of  the  last  century.  Bulwer,  Dickens, 
Thackeray,  George  Eliot,  and  G.  P.  R. 
James  rule  the  shelves — all  in  early 
editions.  Longfellow  is  plentiful  in 
Florence. 

The  British  banquet  differs  from  the 
American  only  in  that  the  chairman 
presides,  but  does  not  keep  order  or 
announce  the  toasts.  That  is  attend- 
ed to  by  a  professional  toast-master, 
who  is  a  large  person  with  a  volcanic 
voice.  While  the  guests  are  assem- 
bling he  stands  at  the  doorway  and 
annoimces  the  names  of  the  arrivals, 
who  are  then  greeted  by  the  chairman 
30 


and  passed  into  the  push.  When  the 
guests  are  seated  he  takes  up  his  sta- 
tion behind  the  chair  of  the  presiding 
officer,  and  commands  order  in  these 
terms:  ''My  lords  and  gentlemen,  I 
pray  you  silence.  We  will  now  listen 
to  the  toast  to  His  Imperial  Majesty 
the  German  Emperor,  responded  to  by 
His  Excellency  the  Lord  Chancellor." 
For  the  rest  the  speeches  drawl  and 
drag,  as  in  New  York,  with  now  and 
then  a  sparkle  of  wit  or  a  flash  of 
mental  energy,  usually  from  some  un- 
expected quarter.  The  turtle  soup  is 
no  better  than  ours.  The  toast-master 
gets  ten  dollars  for  a  night's  work. 

London  newsdealers  scorn  to  pro- 
duce their  wares  before  8  a.m. 

The  motor- 'bus  is  the  newest  noise 
in  London.  It  is  really  a  jouncing, 
bouncing,  skidding  thing  of  horror. 
Narrow  and  high,  with  crowded  roof 
seats,  it  is  a  wonder  the  thing  does  not 


tip  over  every  time  it  makes  a  turn. 
Half  an  hour's  ride  in  one  should 
loosen  ordinary  teeth,  such  is  the  vi- 
bration. All  London  rides  in  them, 
though,  while  the  ''tubes"  languish. 
The  Briton  loves  to  be  hup  w'ere  'e  can 
smoke  'is  poipe. 


Laborers  in  Germany  go  to  work  at 
six  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  work 
imtil  six  at  night.  This  strikes  the  ob- 
server as  having  something  to  do  with 
German  prosperity  when  contrasted 
with  the  slow,  idling  Englishmen,  with 
their  limitations  on  output  and  lack 
of  German  mechanical  skill.  It  may 
have  more  to  do  with  beating  Britain 
in  the  world's  markets  than  the  tariff. 

There  are  no  walking-beam  engines 
on  European  river  or  lake  steamers. 
Most  of  them  use  a  horizontal  engine 

\ 


made  in  Ztirich,  and  all  of  them  are 
low,  rakish  craft,  much  faster  than 
American  boats,  in  addition  to  being 
safer  if  less  comfortable. 

Most  of  the  world's  chocolate  is  made 
in  Switzerland,  though  Germany  is  a 
good  second.  The  man  whose  goods 
fill  the  slot  machines  in  New  York  has 
his  factory  in  Cologne.  There  are 
acres  of  it,  and  his  mansion  is  one  of 
the  palaces  of  the  town. 

The  store  windows  in  Wiesbaden 
glitter  with  amethyst  jewelry.  Much 
of  it  is  very  beautiful. 

The  Rialto  in  Venice,  where  Antonio 
girded  Shylock  many  a  time  and  oft, 
has  stores  on  either  side  full  of  cheap 
wares,  and  suggests  the  sidewalk  on 
Vesey  Street  near  Washington  Market. 

One  can  tmderstand  why  the  artists 
go  to  Italy,  but  not  why  they  should 
ever  come  away. 

There  are  at  least  six  places  in  New 
33 


York  where  macaroni  is  better  cooked 
than  at  the  best  hotels  in  Venice, 
Naples,  Rome,  or  Milan. 

The  best   oranges   in   Italy  are  at 
Capri.     All  are  small. 


Trees  are  small  in  Europe  outside 
of  England,  and  in  England  they  are 
smaller  than  here.  In  Italy  the  poplar 
is  most  grown,  while  beech  is  a  German 
favorite.  The  beeches  grow  tall  and 
slender,  not  short  and  chimky  as  in  our 
New  England  forests.  The  olive-trees, 
which  grow  large  in  Spain,  are  small  in 
Italy.  When  a  tree  reaches  cord-wood 
size  it  is  usually  cut  down  for  use,  but 
a  new  sapling  always  takes  its  place. 

The  Italian  fields  around  Vesuvius 
are  irrigated  from  ancient  wells.  Don- 
keys or  oxen  work  a  bucket  pump  that 
pulls  up  a  large  and  continuous  stream, 
34 


which  is  dispersed  through  the  little 
plots  of  grain  and  vegetables. 

In  Naples  the  laborers  work  on  Sun- 
day and  take  Monday  off. 

Neapolitan  cab-horses  are  all  stal- 
lions of  a  diminutive  breed.  They 
are  driven  without  a  bit.  The  bridle 
carries  a  device  for  closing  the  nos- 
trils, operated  by  the  reins.  There  is 
no  tugging  necessary.  A  slight  press- 
ure shuts  off  the  horse's  wind.  They 
are  very  obedient  and  docile. 

The  scarlet  poppy  is  a  weed  in  Italy 
and  shines  iil  every  field.  Along  the 
road-side  terraces  it  grows  amid  the 
ripening  rye-stalks,  forming  a  beauti- 
ful frieze  of  scarlet  and  gold. 

The  lemon  orchards  give  out  a  rank 
and  unpleasant  smell.  Coupled  with 
other  unpleasant  Italian  smells,  it 
forms  an  odor  as  distinctive  and  as 
disagreeable  as  the  cigarette-flavored 
atmosphere  of  Havana. 
35 


The  shoemaker  is  the  most  numer- 
ous of  Italian  craftsmen.  He  abounds 
everywhere.  After  him  come  the  bar- 
ber and  the  tailor.  A  barber -shop  is 
called  a  saloon. 


Newspapers  are  beginning  to  flour- 
ish in  Italy.  The  first  in  circulation 
and  enterprise  is  the  Evening  Courier 
of  Milan,  with  120,000  circulation  and 
an  equipment  of  American  Hoe  presses. 
The  Tribuna  of  Rome  is  next  in  cir- 
culation and  influence,  with  an  output 
of  100,000  copies  daily.  The  Mattino 
of  Naples  follows,  with  80,000,  and  the 
radical  Messager  of  Rome,  with  60,000. 

The  Italians  use  all  their  vowels. 
The  French  skip  them. 

The  Pope  maintains  a  mosaic  fac- 
tory in  the  Vatican.  Here  the  patient 
artists  work  in  a  gallery  lined  with 
36 


e^^ 


<^^ 


29,ooo  lockers,  in  which  repose  sticks 
of  siUca  of  all  the  myriad  varying 
shades  required  to  reproduce  the  tints 
from  canvas.  A  solid,  wooden-backed 
panel  is  smoothly  filled  with  plaster 
to  the  depth  of  an  inch.  On  this  the 
mosaic-worker  copies  the  painting  to 
be  reproduced.  Then  day  by  day  he 
cuts  out  little  chimks  and  fills  up  the 
gap  with  inch-long  bits  of  silica.  Thus 
the  picture  grows  roughly  in  stone. 
In  three  or  four  years  a  work  two  and 
a  half  by  three  and  a  half  feet  can  be 
turned  out.  It  is  then  grotmd  down 
to  imiform  smoothness  with  water 
and  sand  under  flat  iron  disks.  Then 
the  painting  stands  revealed.  There 
is  a  little  gallery  full  of  the  work  for 
sale.  A  piece  eighteen  inches  square 
can  be  had  for  $i,ooo. 

French  soles  are  better  cooked  in 
Lucerne  than  in  Paris. 

The  Swiss  are  the  best  hotel-keepers 
37 


^r 


■^"■'v^; 


of  Europe.  Various  Swiss  syndicates 
are  running  civilized  hotels  in  all  the 
places  where  the  multitude  go.  Trav- 
ellers should  bless  them. 

It  is  forbidden  to  give  tips  to  the 
servants  in  the  Schweitzerhof  at  Lu- 
cerne. 

Speaking  of  forbidding  is  a  reminder 
that  it  is  a  familiar  word  abroad.  In 
Italy  it  is  "vietato/'  in  Germany 
*'verboten/'  or,  more  politely,  "unter- 
sagt,*'  and  in  France  "defendu/* 


The  French,  Italian,  and  German  rail- 
roads make  liberal  use  of  briquettes  for 
fuel.  The  result  is  a  considerable  econ- 
omy in  coal  and  a  vast  one  in  smoke 
and  cinders.  The  briquette  looks  like 
a  round-cornered  chunk  of  asphalt.  It 
is  made  of  coal-dust,  crude  oil,  and  tar 
compressed  together.     It    is   easy  to 


handle,   burns   with    a    clean,    brown 
smoke,  and  leaves  very  little  ash. 

There  is  a  crack  in  the  Lion  of  Lu- 
cerne. 

People  in  Naples  eat  all  sorts  of  odd 
shell-fish.  Minute  clams,  periwinkles, 
and  several  varieties  of  mussels  are 
devoured. 

The  favorite  early  fruit  in  Italy  is 
called  the  Japanese  fruit.  It  looks 
like  a  plum,  but  has  the  texture  of  a 
pear.  It  is  yellow  in  color,  contains 
several  beanlike  seeds,  with  a  thin 
brown  cover,  and  it  is  slightly  as- 
tringent. Baedeker  says  a  dozen 
can  be  eaten  without  harm.  It  is 
the  only  thing  Baedeker  indorses  in 
Italy. 

Bologna,  where  the  sausages  found 
their  name,  is  called  ''Balonia.''  The 
United  States  government  imposes  no 
tariff  tax  on  either  bolognas  or  frank- 
furters. 

39 


The  Norman  watch-towefs  on  the 
southern  Italian  hills,  from  which  the 
guards  once  kept  ward  on  the  Sara- 
cens, are  now  used  as  points  for  setting 
pigeoii-nets  when  birds  make  their 
annual  flight  from  Africa,  whence  the 
Saracens  also  came. 

It  costs  eighteen  cents  a  mile  for 
a  barouche  and  three  horses  to  haul 
four  persons  from  Pompeii  around  to 
Sorrento,  via  Cava  and  Amalfi.  The 
ride  of  seventy -five  miles  is  made 
in  two  shifts,  and  the  little  horses 
never  cease  trotting. 


The  bust  of  Socrates  in  the  Capito- 
iine  Museum  at  Rome  looks  like  the 
late  Henry  George. 

On  continental  railways  and  the 
Rhine  steamers  there  is  no  miscellane- 
ous scrambling  for  meals.  Instead,  a 
40 


steward  goes  through  the  train  or  boat 
and  lists  the  people  who  want  to  eat. 
Each  gets  a  number,  and  this  insures  a 
seat  without  crowding  or  delay.  It  is 
an  idea  that  might  be  adopted  on  this 
side  of  the  sea. 

In  a  thousand  miles  of  Europe  this 
observer  saw  but  one  rubbish-heap — 
some  old  metal  cans  at  Carlsruhe. 
Everywhere  else  there  was  a  complete 
absence  of  all  waste  or  carelessness, 
and,  above  all,  of  defacement  and  road- 
side uncleanliness.  The  foul,  vacant 
lots  and  dirty  dumps  that  abound  in 
and  about  American  towns  are  not  to 
be  found  anywhere. 

The  soldiers  in  south  Germany  are 
not  so  impressive  as  those  of  the  north. 
But  one  thing  is  apparent :  despite  the 
drain  of  money  and  the  loss  from  with- 
drawing so  many  men  from  industry, 
the  enforced  military  service  has  a 
valuable    side.     It    takes    the    stoop- 


shoiildered,  hollow-chested,  flat-faced, 
stupid-looking  peasant  from  the  fields 
and  kicks  him  until  he  looks  like  a 
man.  He  ceases  to  be  a  dumb,  dull 
brother  of  the  ox,  and  knows  what  the 
world  is  like.  In  a  word,  it  is  uni- 
versity training,  the  barrack  grind  of 
Germany. 

The  Herr  Lieutenants  in  Darmstadt, 
where  our  Revolutionary  Hessians 
came  from,  are  nice  young  fellows. 
For  strut  and  insolence  one  must  go 
to  Prussia. 

When  the  steamers  reach  Naples 
they  are  surrounded  by  boat-loads  of 
beggars — plain  beggars,  singing  beg- 
gars, diving  beggars,  and  flower-sellers. 
The  bouquets  are  fixed  to  the  end  of  a 
long  rod  and  pushed  up  to  the  customer 
on  shipboard.  Then  the  vender  essays 
to  catch  the  price  in  a  net.  The  agony 
t)of  one  who  missed  a  quarter  was  pitia- 
ble to  behold.  In  vain  he  howled  de- 
42 


mands  for  the  return  of  his  flowers. 
The  purchaser  was  a  man  from  Chicago. 

The  windows  in  the  Chapel  of  the 
Invalides  in  Paris,  where  the  great 
Napoleon  lies  buried,  are  of  a  singular 
translucent  amber  glass.  When  the 
sun  shines  full  upon  them  the  rays  are 
transmuted  into  gold  and  they  fall  like 
a  ladder  of  light  upon  the  sarcopha- 
gus of  the  conqueror,  until  he  seems 
glorified  from  the  skies.  It  is  difficult 
to  understand  why  the  republic  permits 
the  presence  of  an  ugly,  garish  altar  in 
the  room.  No  intercession  could  save 
Napoleon  under  any  creed  or  ortho- 
doxy, and  the  harmonies  are  disturbed. 
Better  drums  and  guns  and  banners 
over  such  a  tomb! 

The  American   with   a   small   star-(,— ^^ 
spangled  banner  in  his  button-hole  is*=^  r 


only  modestly  numerous  on  the  Con- 
tinent. The  tall  Englishwomen  in 
black,  with  a  perturbed  maid  and  a 
ton  of  hand  luggage,  is  much  more 
numerous  and  pestiferous.  She  is  a 
nagging  nuisance,  the  bane  of  porters, 
cabmen,  and  all  the  army  of  obliging 
servitors  who  abound  in  Europe. 

Germany  is  a  country  of  intellect; 
Italy  one  of  expression. 

Iron  ties  are  extensively  used  on  the 
German  railroads.  They  look  success- 
ful. The  road-bed  is  certainly  excel- 
lent. They  are  hollow  and  the  edges 
set  well  into  the  soil  and  ballast. 

Everything  is  fast  in  Paris  except 
the  hotel  elevators. 

The  landscapes  in  northern  France 
suggest  Ohio  and  Indiana. 

If  you  want  to  telephone  m  Paris, 
don't.  Take  a  cab.  It  is  quicker  and 
about  as  cheap. 

The  Swiss  hotels  serve  the  table 
44 


d'hote  with  miUtary  precision.  When 
a  course  once  passes,  it  is  gone  forever. 

Ice-cream  is  plentiful  in  Italy. 

Padua,  where  Portia  played  the 
lawyer,  lies  flat  on  the  plain .  that 
stretches  down  to  the  Adriatic  and  the 
marshy  islets  whereon  Venice  defies  the 
sea.  It  would  still  be  mediaeval  but 
for  a  cluster  of  very  ugly  and  modern 
smoke-stacks. 

Sign-board  and  poster  advertising 
litter  up  both  France  and  Italy,  while 
the  London  'buses  are  hideous  with 
American  advertising  cards  plastered 
on  in  eye-shocking  colors. 

French  strawberries  are  two  inches 
through  and  are  sold  from  heaped-up 
barrows  built  like  the  East  Side  push- 
carts. 

Almost  at  the  portal  of  the  Vatican 

is  an  extensive  jeweller's  establishment. 

Here,  crosses,  scapulars,  rosaries,  and 

medals  are  to  be  had,  as  well  as  finer 

45 


•"r;;c:.'- 


things.  The  daily  purchases  of  visit- 
ors are  put  into  a  nest  of  trays,  and 
at  four  o'clock  each  afternoon  they  are 
taken  to  the  Pope  and  blessed  en  bloc. 
The  next  morning  people  who  have 
bought  the  articles  receive  them  at 
their  hotels  by  special  messenger. 

The  pet  way  of  catching  cold  in 
Rome  is  to  visit  the  catacombs,  going 
in  out  of  the  hot  sunshine.  The  Baths 
of  Apollo  are  chill,  indeed! 

Two  apes,  of  the  gorilla  pattern, 
cut  from  black  basalt  by  some 
Egyptian  chisel,  crouch  side  by  side 
in  the  hall  of  the  Capitoline,  and  these 
have  smaller  replicas  in  the  Louvre. 
Such  masterful  workmanship  and  ex- 
pression in  the  few  grim  lines  are  not 
to  be  found  elsewhere  in  the  great 
galleries.  Somehow  the  artist  has 
worked  in  the  look  of  a  Pharaoh  on  the 
countenance  of  a  monkey,  and  has 
made  the  simians  majestically  real. 


Much  of  Pompeii  remains  to  be 
excavated.  The  Italian  government 
digs  it  out  a  little  piece  at  a  time. 

The  colleges  at  Oxford  are  built 
around  squares  of  greensward,  and  the  i« 
buildings  are  flush  with  the  street. 
There  are  no  college  grounds.  The 
students  come  out  through  sally-ports 
and  do  not  differ  in  aspect  or  behavior 
from  the  yoimg  gentlemen  at  Harvard 
or  Yale.  The  college  widow  is  also 
in  evidence,  while  the  railway  station 
is  much  like  that  of  the  Baltimore 
&  Ohio  at  Tiffin,  Ohio,  which  is  con- 
ceded to  be  the  worst  one  in  America. 
Tan  shoes  are  plentiful. 

The  newspaper  men  in  London  can 
talk  English.  The  rest  of  the  popu- 
lace use  a  queer  jargon  of  misplaced 
aspirates  and  vowels  interspersed  with 
drawls  and  growls  in  mournful  mutila- 
^    tion  of  their  native  tongue.  f--  ^^^ 

The    Dutch    galliot    is    a   frequent  ^,^^; 


V 


visitor  in  the  Thames.  The  natural 
wood  of  these  tub -shaped  sloops  is 
polished  and  varnished  until  the  hulls 
wear  an  amber  shine. 

Below  London  Bridge  canals  thread 
through  the  commercial  city,  into 
which  the  barges  bear  the  burdens  of 
the  ships  that  lie  in  The  Stream.  In 
Europe  they  do  not  waste  their  rivers 
by  sticking  docks  out  into  their  midst. 
Shipping  must  go  alongside  the  em- 
bankment or  quay. 

The  famed  castles  of  the  Rhine  are 
puny  stone -heaps  beside  the  gigantic 
ancient  strongholds  of  southern  Italy. 

The  little  farms  that  cling  to  the 
faces  of  the  mountains  that  guard 
Amalfi  are  largely  hand -made.  The 
soil  is  scooped  into  baskets  out  of 
hollows  in  the  limestone  hills  wherever 
found,  and  piled  behind  terrace-walls. 
The  cemeteries  are  built  in  the  same 
way. 

48 


British  men-o'-war  are  painted  lead- 
color,  and  lack  expression  when  their 
port-holes  are  closed. 

There  is  one  place  in  the  world 
where  the  Third  Napoleon  is  rernem- 
bered  with  kindness,  and  that  is  Milan. 
Here  a  great  triumphal  arch  in  stone 
and  bronze  gratefully  records  the  fact 
that  he  and  Victor  Emmanuel  drove 
the  Austrians  out  of  northern  Italy. 

There  is  a  bust  of  Nero  in  the 
Capitoline  that  is  an  exact  likeness  of 
Alexander,  King  of  vServia,  who  was 
murdered  with  Queen  Draga  by  some 
of  his  interesting  constituents.  The  re- 
semblance reinforces  belief  in  phrenol- 
ogy, the  Criminal  Ear  and  Degenerate 
Chin.  , 

Starting  a  train  in  the  Latin  cotm- 
tries  is  an  impressive  ceremony.  First 
the  station-master  rings  a  bell.  This 
annotmces  that  he  is  through.  Then 
the  platform  man  blows  a  horn.  His 
49 


troubles  are  over.  Then  the  engineer 
toots  his  readiness,  and  the  cars  start. 
Most  of  the  Italian  trains  sport  flat 
wheels. 


London  suggests  ten  Bostons  pieced 
together  at  the  edges. 

In  the  collection  of  armor  in  the 
Tower  of  London  is  a  helmet  sent  to 
Henry  VIII.  by  the  King  of  Portu- 
gal. It  is  a  mask  of  Satan,  with 
gleaming  red  eyes  and  the  usual  horns 
of  Mephistopheles.  The  Portuguese 
potentate  evidently  possessed  a  sense 
of  humor. 

The  koh-i-noor  is  no  longer  in  the 
Tower,  Queen  Alexandra  having  an- 
nexed it;  but  the  Orleans  diamond 
glows  like  a  crystal  sim  in  the  Louvre, 
alongside  of  a  remarkable  carved  ruby 
of  extraordinary  size,  that  was  once 
a  breastpin  belonging  to  Miss  Jane 
50 


Fish,  better  known  as  Mme.  de  Pom- 
padour. 

It  seems  odd  in  Paris  to  find  a  tower 
covered  with  ecclesiastical  symbols 
sheltering  a  statue  of  Blaise  Pascal,  he 
of  the  Thoughts. 

The  poverty  of  southern  Italy  does 
not  reveal  itself  in  rags  or  leanness, 
but  in  the  multitude  of  little  things 
the  people  do — gathering  twigs,  scrap- 
ing fertilizers  from  the  roads,  cutting 
handfiils  of  grass ;  in  short,  the  intense 
economy  of  utilization,  which  seems 
odd  and  painful  to  the  traveller  from 
wasteful  America. 

Much  of  the  Italian  spaghetti  is 
made  at  Torre  Anmmziata,  near  Ve- 
suvius. The  factories  are  great  stone 
buildings,  the  recesses  of  which  look 
like  caverns,  while  the  product  lines 
the  roadside,  hung  in  festoons  on  racks 
to  dry  and  acquire  a  flavor  from  the 
flies  and  lava  dust. 

5'  t^^'h- 


The  Colonna  Restaurant  in  Rome 
was  the  only  place  in  Italy  to  serve 
green  pease  straight.  Elsewhere  they 
v^^'^came  mixed  with  carrots.  They  were 
^^  plenty  in  the  markets,  but  scant  on 
the  bills-of-fare. 

Making  postal -cards  carrying  in- 
sulting allusions  to  the  German  Em- 
peror is  a  pleasing  Parisian  in- 
dustry. The  partisan  political  postal- 
card  is  quite  common.  Perhaps  it 
will  invade  America. 


^^^ 


There  are  no  lions  in  Pompeii,  but 
the  lizards  keep  the  courts  where  the 
Romans  gloried  and  drank  deep.  They 
are  present  in  every  crevice  and  bask 
on  sunny  cornices,  or  whisk  amid  ruts 
made  by  the  chariot  wheels.  They  af- 
ford the  only  real  signs  of  life  visible, 
tmless  the  government  guards  can  be 
52 


counted.     Usually  the  latter  are  too 
sleepy  to  take  tips. 

Most  of  the  wicked  frescos  in  Pom- 
peii have  been  removed  to  Naples  and 
installed  in  the  private  rooms  of  the 
National  Museum.  Enough  remain 
to  attract  visitors.  These  are  brutal 
and  inartistic. 

The  ^'Liberte,  EgaUte,  Fraternite/' 
which  the  French  republic  has  carved 
over  the  lintels  of  the  Royalist  palaces 
in  Paris,  has  a  sonorous  sound.  It 
means  much  or  little,  according  as 
you  look  at  it.  There  is  some  liberty, 
much  equality,  and  a  very  little  fra- 
ternity in  France — as  elsewhere! 

The  best  investment  in  foreign 
travel  is  a  two-franc  tip  to  the  head 
hotel  porter.  Under  his  commanding 
eye,  cabmen,  guides,  gondoliers,  and 
laundresses  become  meek,  and  over- 
charges vanish  with  apologies.  He  i 
can  talk  English,  and  comes  close  to  ^5»^ 


understanding  it,  whatever  his  own 
nationaHty,  and  he  uses  his  powers 
with  dignity  and  decision. 

In  Italy  good  meals  are  the  rule,  not 
the  exception.  After  all,  America  is 
the  habitat  of  bad  hotels.  The  hor- 
rors of  cookery  in  the  average  small 
town  hotel  here  cannot  be  duplicated 
abroad. 

Northern  and  southern  Italy  are  as 
far  apart  racially  and  socially  as  north 
and  south  usually  are.  The  tall,  fair 
young  fellow  from  Milan  stood  at  the 
rail  of  the  ship  looking  at  the  peaks 
of  Calabria.  He  was  not  thinking 
of  the  mountains,  but  of  the  people. 
**They  are  wild  beasts  down  there,"  he 
said,  sententiously.  Perhaps  they  are. 
Anyway,  here  dwell  people  with  dark 
looks  and  fierce  eyes,  whose  chief 
passion  is  vengeance,  and  to  whom  a 
chance  glance  is  a  signal  for  a  quarrel. 

The  ships  slip  close  to  Sardinia  as 
54 


Q 

they  glide  by  in  the  night  towards 
Naples.  The  shore  lights  give  out  a 
friendly  glow,  and  the  sweet  scent  of 
the  forest  tempers  the  savor  of  the 
sea. 

*' These  foreigners  speak  English/* 
said  the  Colonel,  ''but  they  do  not 
understand  it.''     Which  is  about  it. 

The  Appian  Way  is  about  as  wide  as 
Nassau  Street. 

The  Roman  venders  of  lemonade  do 
not  put  sugar  in  the  fluid. 

In  Florence  the  confectioners  shred 
fresh  cocoanut  meat  and  mix  it  with 
water.  The  pulp  is  drained  away,  and 
the  result  is  a  beverage,  sweetened  and 
flavored,  which  would  be  popular  if 
made  known  to  the  rest  of  the  world. 


Germany  is  no  longer  a  country  of 
content.     Hence  her  progress.     Keen 
55 


A 


discontent  prevails.  The  workmen  are 
restless,  and  the  politics  full  of  excite- 
ment. The  Socialist  is  the  largest  po- 
litical factor,  and  would  be  larger  but 
for  a  sort  of  gerrymander  that  keeps 
down  the  representation  of  large  cities 
in  the  Reichstag.  But  the  country  is 
progressing  in  all  directions,  business 
and  political  alike.  The  banishment 
of  content  has  brought  progress. 

The  Swiss  railroads  are  better  man- 
aged and  better  equipped  than  any 
Continental  roads.  They  have  fallen 
into  government  control  without  dam- 
age. But  Switzerland  is  an  anomaly 
among  republics.  She  preserves  her 
ideals  and  her  honesty. 

Perhaps  a  reason  for  the  liking  of 
European  life  by  the  pushing  American 
who  has  made  his  pile  is  found  in  the 
intellectual  simplicity  of  the  people 
everywhere  outside  of  Germany.  The 
restfulness  that  comes  of  a  freedom 
56 


from  being  always  compelled  to  match  r-^^^^ 
mind  against  mind,   as  one  must  to  \c 
maintain   himself   in   America,   is  re- 
freshing,  and  soon  makes  itself  felt. 
The  naivete  and  childlikeness  found  in 
France,  Spain,  Italy,  and  even  in  Lon-         . 
don,  cannot  be  met  with  in  the  United  |%\ 
States.  ^" 

At  Capri  they  show  you  the  ruins  of 
the  Villa  of  Tiberius,  on  a  crag  a  thou- 
sand feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea, 
from  the  walls  of  which  the  Emperor 
was  in  the  habit  of  throwing  guests 
who  had  become  tiresome  —  proba- 
bly the  origin  of  the  saying,  ''  Being 
dropped  from  one's  setl" 

^^ 

Women   are  badly  dressed  in  Ger- 
many.   Their  clothes   have  no  ''set'* 
or  style  about  them.    This  does  not 
refer  to  the  peasants,  but  to  the  middle 
57 


and  well-to-do  classes.  Besides,  the 
German  women,  in  most  instances, 
lack  shape.  In  Italy,  from  peasant  to 
great  lady,  there  is  a  touch  of  fashion 
equalled  only  in  France,  where  dress, 
style,  and  shape  reign  supreme.  Mid- 
dle-class female  clothes  in  England  are 
about  on  a  par  with  Germany.  The 
ladies  of  Milan  are  the  best  clad  of  all 
Italy. 

The  Po  and  the  Adige  are  swift,  dark- 
green  rivers.  The  latter  lights,  carries, 
and  drives  Milan.  These  rivers  are 
making  northern  Italy  rich  with  the 
development  of  the  electric  power. 

The  rocky  walls  of  the  Azores  are 
streaked  with  silver  foam  from  the  lit- 
tle streams  that  seem  to  fall  from  the 
very  mountain-tops  into  the  sea. 

Contrary  to  common  report,  much/" 
>^  water  is  drunk  in  Italy.     Wine  is  ani 
article  of  commerce,  and  is  made  to  ^^^ 
sell.     It  does  not  stand  about  in  car-  ^^^y 
58 


afes  at  the  hotels  and  restaurants,  but 
has  to  be  ordered  and  paid  for.  It  is 
cheap,  and  sometimes  good,  especially 
a  light  claret  that  abounds  in  the 
Appenines. 

Coral  is  the  jewelry  of  Naples.  Not 
all  of  the  material  is  found  in  the 
Mediterranean.  Much  of  it  comes  from 
the  Far  East  to  the  clever  Neapolitan 
lapidaries. 

Naples  is  the  great  emigrant  port 
for  New  York,  while  Genoa  is  the  point 
of  departure  for  South  America,  where 
another  little  Italy  is  growing  in 
Argentina.  Each  ship  must  carry  a 
civilian  and  military  doctor,  who  can 
never  go  twice  on  the  same  ship. 
Thus  the  internes  of  the  two  cities  are 
becoming  much-travelled  young  gen- 
tlemen. 

The  Motmtains  of  Atlas  in  Africa, 
where  the  golden  apples  grew,  are 
green  almost  to  the  tops  with  forest, 
59 


shrub,  and  grass,  but  the  Spanish 
sierras  across  the  straits  are  barren 
and  brown.  They  look  like  the  walls 
of  a  desert,  even  though  they  hedge  in 
the  loveliest  valleys  in  Spain. 

The  ship  drops  a  hundred  tons  of 
odd  freight  at  Gibraltar  destined  for 
Spain.  Flour  in  sacks  and  lard  in  tubs, 
topped  off  with  five  hundred  cases  of 
American  Florida  water,  which  has  be- 
come a  favorite  perfume  in  Grenada 
and  Seville. 

When  a  road  is  built  in  Italy  the 
dynamiters  do  not  spill  the  debris  all 
over  the  scenery.  All  traces  of  the 
operation  are  removed,  and  the  high- 
way is  so  masked  with  walls  and 
graced  with  arches  as  to  become  an 
improvement  and  not  a  blemish  to 
the  landscape. 


The  Italian  army  is  the  smartest  in 
outward  show  of  all  the  European 
armed  array.  It  is  truly  tailor-made. 
The  officers  are  handsomely  dressed  in 
tmiforms  that  fit  like  gloves  and  are 
splendidly  mounted.  The  rank  and 
file  are  picturesquely  accoutred,  and 
the  men  are  supple,  well  made,  well 
trained  and  well  armed.  They  have 
grace  of  limb  and  sprightliness  of 
demeanor,  quite  lacking  among  the 
barrel-legged  German  and  barely  vis- 
ible in  the  shabby  red-trousered  little 
Frenchmen,  while  the  narrow-chested, 
weak-eyed,  imdersized  British  troops 
are  altogether  out  of  the  comparison 
of  looks.  But  can  they  fight?  The 
last  time  they  tried  an  Abyssinian  ne- 
gro general  wiped  out  an  army  corps ! 

The  French  are  very  careful  to  call 
their  conscripted  standing  army  a 
militia.  "We  do  not  have  hired 
soldiers  as  you  do  in  America,"  said 
6i 


one;  **ours  are  all  citizen  soldiers." 
The  first  impression  one  gets  of  a 
French  regiment  is  that  its  red  trousers 
need  washing. 

"The  thin  red  line''  of  the  foot- 
guards  in  London  is  not  very  im- 
pressive. The  bearskin  caps  elevate 
them  above  the  common  level,  but  put 
beside  a  column  of  American  regulars 
of  recent  breed  they  compare  badly 
in  physique  and  get-up.  The  single- 
breasted,  long-tailed  red  coat  is  an  im- 
happy  garment  for  fighting  men. 

The  London  Coimty  Council's  steam- 
boats, which  cost  the  luckless  Britons 
two  htmdred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars 
last  year,  are  unclean  little  smoky  tubs 
of  ancient  side -wheel  pattern,  where 
you  sit  on  an  open  deck  and  swallow 
soft -coal  smoke,  or  else  dive  into  a 
coffin -shaped  cabin  below  water-line, 
where  ginger -pop  is  purveyed  by  a 
cockney  maiden  at  twopence  a  sip. 
62 


The  swift  boats  on  the  Seine  earn 
money,  and  are  so  constructed  as  to 
make  a  trip  enjoyable.  The  Seine  is 
a  nice,  clean,  artistic  river,  while  the 
Thames  is  muddy  and  commercialized. 
The  mark  of  America  lies  wide  and 
deep  across  Europe.  In  Italy  the 
returned  Italian  speaks  with  pride  of 
his  sojourn  in  the  United  States, 
whether  as  rock-breaker  or  sculptor, 
and  the  common  folks  nod  a  smiling 
welcome  to  the  American.  The  Ital- 
ians like  us,  and  they  know  where 
the  tide  of  gold  is  coming  from  that  is 
restoring  comfort  and  ease  in  many  a 
southern  town.  From  Naples  to  the 
tip  end  of  Calabria  come  the  emi- 
grants, and  many  return,  better  and 
richer  men,  having  done  their  share  of 
the  rough  work  of  the  New  World  with 
their  strong  and  willing  hands. 


The  first  landfall  of  Europe  by  the 
^y^ southern  route  is  at  Cape  Trafalgar, 
■^^^  where  Nelson  became  immortal.    The 


great  yellow  headland  that  guards  the 


'  bay  seems  like  a  cloud  when  it  first 
ranges  into  view,  but  soon  looms  up 
in  majestic  desolation.  To  the  north 
show  the  white  walls  of  ancient  Cadiz 
— pronounced  Kad-diz,  by  the  way. 

The  great  gray  castle  of  the  Lord 
Warden  by  the  Cinque -Ports  com- 
mands the  cliffs  above  the  landing- 
place  at  Dover.  It  is  a  cluster  of 
square-built  towers,  unrelieved  by  any 
art  or  trees.  The  cliffs  are  barren  but 
for  the  scanty  grass.  When  the  fog 
is  in,  and  the  fog  is  always  in  at  Dover, 
there  is  no  bell-ringing  or  horn-blow- 
ing, but  a  minute-gim  barks  a  sharp 
warning  into  the  mist. 

The  ruins  of  the  efforts  to  establish 
the  American  quick-lunch  system  in 
London  are  still  visible  in  spots.    The 
64 


enterprise  failed,  not  because  of  the 
British  prejudice,  but  because  it  was 
not  the  real  thing.  Shabby  fittings 
and  half-way  equipment  did  the  busi- 
ness. The  Englishman  wants  the  real 
thing  when  he  wants  anything,  and  if 
he  could  have  had  plate-glass  windows, 
marble  walls,  and  real  food,  instead  of 
signs  and  pretence,  all  would  have  been 
well. 

Prices  at  the  famous  co-operative 
stores  in  London  are  about  one-third 
higher  than  in  the  great  shops  of  New 
York. 

The  London  idea  of  summer  clothing 
is  flannel,  but  the  straw  hat,  a  recent 
American  invader,  is  in  universal  fash- 
ion. So,  too,  in  France  and  Italy. 
Men's  clothes  seem  to  have  become  the 
same  the  world  over. 

19^ 


f 


C^ 


Continental  sleeping-car  charges  are 
double  those  in  America.  The  berths 
are  in  state  -  rooms.  Four  of  these 
shelves  are  arranged  so  close  together 
that  passengers  must  go  to  bed  one  at 
a  time.  But  the  beds  are  good  and 
the  berths  long  enough  to  lie  in  at  full 
length,  which  is  more  than  can  be  said 
of  Mr.  Pullman's  somnolencies. 

The  absence  of  any  reliable  checking 
system  compels  travellers  to  look  out 
for  their  own  baggage,  a  good  thing  in 
many  ways.  It  also  compels  them  to 
get  to  the  station  half  an  hour  before 
train-time  in  order  to  seize  a  compart- 
ment and  stow  the  stuff.  The  of- 
ficials who  sell  tickets  and  inspect 
baggage  will  not  be  hurried,  and  the 
last-minute-train-catching  in  vogue  in 
America  would  not  be  tolerated  abroad. 
In  short,  the  traveller  must  serve  the 
convenience  of  the  road,  or  the  road 
will  have  none  of  him.  The  formalities 
66 


once  understood  and  complied  with, 
travelling  becomes  easy  and  pleasant. 

Begging  is  well  stamped  out  in 
Rome,  prevails  on  the  edges  of  Naples, 
and  is  not  visible  in  Milan,  while  in 
Venice  the  absence  of  streets  leaves 
mendicants  little  room  for  trade. 

The  pigeons  of  St.  Mark's  share  fame 
with  the  bronze  horses.  Thousands 
of  them  flutter  about  the  plaza  or  strut 
upon  the  pavement,  while  venders  sell 
bags  of  grain  with  which  the  throng 
feeds  the  birds.  To  scatter  the  wheat 
over  your  girl  and  then  snapshot  her 
as  the  flock  alight  to  pick  the  grains 
from  her  garments,  is  a  favorite  di- 
version. The  delight  of  the  people 
in  these  pigeons  is  never-ending,  and 
they  and  their  forebears  have  fluttered 
about  the  palace  of  the  Doges  for  a 
thousand  years! 

It  is  easy  to  travel  rapidly  in  Europe 

and  see  much  if  picture-galleries  be 

67 


avoided.  Nothing  will  breed  head- 
aches and  exhaustion  like  two  or  three 
miles  of  old  masters. 

The  cardinals  in  Rome  maintain  the 
dignities  of  great  princes,  but  the  Pope 
tries  to  live  a  simple  democratic  life. 
The  city  would  prefer  more  papal 
magnificence. 

An  American  chorus  girl  can  make 
more  stir  in  London  than  a  Duchess. 

Outwardly  the  diflference  between 
monarchical  and  republican  institu- 
tions is  not  strikingly  observed.  In- 
deed, individual  rights,  outside  of 
some  things  more  or  less  intangible 
politically,  are  much  better  protect- 
ed than  in  the  United  States.  The 
public  is  better  cared  for.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  there  is  nothing  to  show 
the  slightest  reason  why  a  Victor 
Emmanuel  should  be  needed  to  rule 
Italy,  or  where  it  would  make  five 
W^^J  cents  difference  if  Germany  had  no 


William  or  England  no  Edward.  The 
people  are  the  mighty  in  the  kingdoms 
of  the  earth  of  to-day! 

Whiskey  is  kept  in  Italy  as  a  luxury  f^ 
for  foreigners.  It  is  not  served  irom^^ 
the  generous  black  bottle  of  the  Amer- 
ican bar,  but  comes  in  a  corrugated 
casket  adorned  with  metal  chains, 
much  resembling  the  pepper -sauce 
cruet  used  in  New  York  and  elsewhere 
to  contain  the  coarse  compound  with 
which  it  was  once  the  custom  to 
brutalize  raw  oysters.  Each  corruga- 
tion stands  for  a  drink,  and  each  drink 
costs  a  lire.  It  takes  four  corrugations 
to  make  a  decent  high-ball,  or  about 
eighty  cents  per. 

Few  Americans  can  sing  more  than 

one   verse    of   *'My    Country,  'tis    of 

Thee,''  while  all  Britishers  can  warble 

^^,    two  of  ''  God  Save  the  King,"  and  some 

of  them  three.     The  tune  is  the  same. 

THE    END 


GENERAL  LIBRARV 
RETURN   xT"  "'  ^-— "  BBKKK..V 
S.     H      ""^'^  ^^^^  ^«^^«  BORROWED 


^°!i-iS5^;if  54(1887816) 


476 


^ 


YB  734-4'5 


M310128 


